Government will not remove the Santos cap, unless it keeps its HQ in Adelaide

According to Stephen Wisenthal, of The Australian Financial Review, (12/9/2007), p. 56, Premier Mike Rann said 11 September., “I am not philosophically opposed to removal of the cap, but this government will not legislate to remove the cap unless we can be satisfied that this will not result in the loss of significant corporate functions.” Santos said it was talking to the government to address Rann’s concerns, while protecting the interests of shareholders.

HQ must stay, even after takeover: Rann said many of the concerns that led SA to block Alan Bond in 1979, when the Santos-operated Cooper Basin fields supplied all the state’s gas, were no longer valid. “South Australia today received gas from a number of sources and is the centre of a national gas hub,” he said. “The downside of the removal of the cap would, of course, be the potential for a takeover by interstate or overseas interests. The approach of the South Australian government will, as I said at the annoucement of the review, be driven unashamedly by maximising benefits to South Australia.”